FBI agent accused in shooting death of PR officer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico 
Authorities charged an FBI agent with negligent homicide on Friday in the alleged "friendly fire" shooting death of a Puerto Rican policeman during a gunbattle with kidnappers last year.

Sagardia said Hewitt is no longer in Puerto Rico, but FBI commanders have assured local authorities that he will soon travel to the U.S. Caribbean territory for the prosecution.

"We are working shoulder to shoulder with the federal authorities, hand in hand," Sagardia said in the capital, San Juan.

The local FBI office said in a statement that it would not comment on the case, but promised to work closely with Puerto Rican authorities on security issues. The FBI did not disclose Hewitt's whereabouts, and it was not clear if he had a lawyer.

FBI agents and police officers launched the late-night raid last August in the city of Carolina to free a Dominican man. Police say kidnappers were holding him in the trunk of a car and demanding $650,000 in ransom.

As FBI agents freed the victim, the suspects tried to flee in an SUV but crashed into another vehicle. Police say a second group of U.S. agents fired at the kidnappers, and Gonzalez, who was guarding a side street, was hit by stray bullets that pierced his body armor.